


Unrequited

by scullywolf



Series: TXF: Scenes in Between [89]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2015-11-06
Packaged: 2018-04-30 08:37:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5157251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scullywolf/pseuds/scullywolf





	Unrequited

Scully awoke to her alarm beeping and phone ringing simultaneously, and it took her a second to separate the two. She fumbled to shut off one, then answer the other.

“Yeah, hello?”

“Scully, it’s me. Skinner’s called us in early. There was a shooting at Fort Evanston about twenty minutes ago, an army general was shot and killed. They’re bringing the suspect to FBI Headquarters for questioning, and they want us to talk to him.”

She blinked, trying to clear the fog of sleep. “They want us? Why?”

“The circumstances surrounding the shooting were a little… unusual. Just, get in as soon as you can. There’s a briefing at 7:15 and Skinner expects answers from us.”

Scully’s clock read 6:20, and she suppressed a sigh. “I’m on my way.”

She had to forego a shower, but she was dressed and out the door in five minutes. Depending on traffic, the drive to work could take her anywhere from ten minutes to half an hour, but luck was on her side, and she pulled her car into a space in the underground parking at 6:38. She shook her head, figuring that had to be some kind of personal record, bed to office in eighteen minutes.

Mulder was waiting for her at the employee entrance. “The suspect should be arriving any minute,” he said in response to her raised eyebrows. 

“I was wondering how you beat me here,” she said, knowing that his commute from Alexandria generally took a lot longer than hers from Georgetown.

“I was already on my way in when Skinner called.” 

There was a commotion behind them as four military police officers entered the building, escorting a uniformed, handcuffed private. The man’s eyes were wide, his face tight.

“This must be our guy,” Mulder murmured, then walked forward to meet the group. “Excuse me, is this Gus Burkholder?”

The man nodded, and soon he was passed into Mulder’s custody. Scully led the group down the hall to an interview room, Mulder and the suspect close behind her, the MPs trailing and standing guard in the hallway once she and Mulder took Burkholder inside.

“Private Burkholder, I’m Special Agent Fox Mulder, and this is my partner, Agent Scully. As I’m sure you are aware, you are here as a suspect in the murder of--”

“I didn’t kill the general!” the man blurted. “Please, I swear, I know I sound like a liar but I _swear_ , I don’t know how he got shot.”

“Why don’t you tell us what happened?” Scully said calmly.

“I picked him up at 0600 just like I always do. Just him. There was nobody else in the car.” He spoke earnestly, looking back and forth between her and Mulder. “As soon as we got off base, I put up the privacy divider, just like normal. Not thirty seconds later, that’s when I heard the shot. Scared the hell out of me, I’ll be honest. Almost crashed the car, I swerved off the road so fast and slammed on the brakes. When I jumped out and opened the back door, it was still just the general inside the car. And he was dead.”

Scully looked at her watch and knew they were pushing it on time but asked, “Private Burkholder, would you be willing to take a polygraph test to confirm the veracity of your claims?”

“Yes ma’am I would,” he said, nodding firmly. “I did not kill General MacDougal.”

She didn’t even have to make eye contact with Mulder before her partner was heading out the door. “I’ll get a tech in here.”

Seven o’clock. It was going to take a minor miracle to make that briefing in fifteen minutes.


End file.
